KoMiK project: Wibu-Systems explores innovative collaboration technologies for the modern enterprise

Wibu-Systems is not just one of the world’s leading makers of software protection and licensing technology, but also a prime example of a modern, tech-forward medium-sized enterprise. With the recently completed KoMiK project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the European Union, Wibu-Systems and its project partners from industry and academia are paving the way for digital cooperation systems with a helpful screening tool for other SMEs.

Communication, connection, and collaboration are the currency of all modern economies. Beyond the high-minded principles and ambitious visions that these terms evoke, they constitute a very tangible reality for businesses: More digitalized, complex, and physically distributed operations have become the norm, and they demand smart, but simple technological solutions to navigate the flood of information and communication every organization is faced with. Enterprise Collaboration Systems, or ECS, are a possible answer.

To understand the requirements for ECS, the KoMiK project was set up as a thorough longitudinal study with partners from pioneering industries and representatives from academia including the Fraunhofer Working Group for Supply Chain Services, Munich Institute for Social Science Research, and the Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg. Their mission was first to explore how ECS can improve business processes, access information, and provide companies the ability to cope with complexity, and then to survey how technology, processes, and competences affect how ECS are introduced, used, and improved in the field.

Wibu-Systems chose to take part as an application partner to test the process of introducing an ECS, pinpoint the exact requirements of a commercially active organization, and document the process and its results. Over the three years of the KoMiK project, the team at Wibu-Systems and their research partners discovered much about the reality in the field.

With the successful conclusion of the KoMiK project at the end of May 2022, valuable insights have been gained, namely the problems and tasks for which the use of an ECS is recommended, identification of the different types of ECS, the best approach to select and introduce an ECS, and the findings from the preliminary considerations, analyses, and accompanied introduction processes. These field-tested insights are useful when other SMEs consider introducing such digital collaboration tools. All recommendations for action for practitioners are summarized in the project brochure, and thanks to an easy-to-navigate screening tool, the ECS selection process can be made easier for other SMEs.

Andrej Krasnik, Head of Software Development and Wibu-Systems’ representative for the KoMiK project, looks back on three years of productive work: “Modern business is all about agility in complexity, but few people understand what this means in practice. With our project, we are helping the actual practitioners get a grip on the right ECS systems. It is about a brass-tacks, hands-on tool to make business life easier for them.”